What the article didn't touch on, is that the problem he faced was crossing out of the river, after the river rose - he couldn't simply ford across it, as he ha

What the article didn't touch on, is that the problem he faced was crossing out of the river, after the river rose - he couldn't simply ford across it, as he had done getting there. "Oh well", he said, "I'll just hang back here". His original plan was to travel through Alaska - which is a weird thing to want to do, by foot, in anything but the wintertime - Alaska turns into a giant swamp. It's one of the reasons why locals thought McCandles a little dim. What could have saved him, was this: there was an old cable basket system a little ways up river that he could have used to cross. He never knew about it. It seems he didn't even wander that way, to stumble upon it. "A basket-pulley system built and left by the U.S. Geological survey high above the River, the basket has been chained to a pole on McCandless’ side by locals to stop people from hunting in the area. Had McCandless found the basket and broken the chain, he would’ve been able to cross even with the river at its higest point. " (Into The Wild)